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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Day Offset vs Sliding Day Offset Windows

by Paul Ziino

Often times we are asked which Hour Rotation rule to use, and many times we end up explaining the differences between “Day Offset Window” and “Sliding Day Offset Window”. Here’s the scoop…

Day Offset Window is used to protect X number of broadcast hours for Y number of days on either side of a play being tested. The most basic setting here is “Days=1/Window Size=1 Hour”. This protects a song from being played two days in a row in the same broadcast hour.

Sliding Day Offset Window with a setting of “Days=1/Window Size=1:00” would protect a song from being played two days in a row while sliding that 1:00 over the time being tested, splitting it in half so as to check +/- 30 minutes on either side of the play being tested.

Let’s assume we’re testing a play at 9:05am on Wednesday. Day Offset Window is in place with that “Days=1/Window Size=1 Hour” setting. This would look at the 9am hour on Tuesday (one day back) and Thursday (one day ahead), and if the song played anywhere within the 9am broadcast hour on either day, it fails the rule. Note: if the song played at 8:55am on Tuesday, the 9:05am Wednesday play would pass this rule as it is in a different broadcast hour.

Now if we have that same play at 9:05am on Wednesday, but this time we have a Sliding Day Offset Window in place with a setting of “Days=1/Window Size=1:00”, MusicMaster will look at Tuesday (-1 day) and Thursday (+1 day), and if that song played within 30 minutes either side of 9:05 (8:35am-9:35am) on either day, it would fail the rule. Note: if the song played at 8:55am on Tuesday, the 9:05am Wednesday play would fail this rule as it is within the +/- 30 minute window.

Let’s take it a step further. We’re still looking at that 9:05am play on Wednesday. This time our Day Offset Window is set to” Days=1/Window Size=3 Hours”. MusicMaster will look at Tuesday and Thursday in the 8am, 9am, and 10am hours (same hour plus the hour on either side for a total of 3 hours) and if the song played within those hours on either day, it would fail the rule.

But if we used a Sliding Day Offset Window set to “Days=1/Window Size=3:00”, MusicMaster will effectively slide that time frame centering it on the play being tested with an equal amount of time on either side. This would mean +/- 1:30 on either side of 9:05am, or 7:35-10:35am.

The Sliding Day Offset Window can be more precise than the Day Offset Window, because Sliding windows can be adjusted to the minute. For example, a setting of “Days=2/Window Size=1:44” will protect +/- 52 minutes on either side of the play being tested for 2 days back and ahead.

In both Day Offset and Sliding Day Offset windows you can check the “Test Past days only” box on the rule properties window to do just that. Then MusicMaster would only look at past play history and not test against future spins.

Using a combination of Hour Rotation rules including Day Offset and Sliding Day Offset Windows can help maximize a song’s day-to-day separation and exposure.